Courtesy of Bob Bailey and Wildfowl Magazine
Back to the Wall on Hunter's Guns in Canada
By Bob Bailey
One of the great lessons that hunting teaches those who pursue it, is the concept of putting back. Many waterfowlers feel that if they take birds from the sky, it is incumbent upon them to put something back. This ethic has spawned the great conservation era that was so well articulated by Leopold and Roosevelt, which formed the foundation for the North American Model of Wildlife Conservation. This sense of responsibility toward the game defined a new role for humans in nature- one based on restoration and creativity- rather than destruction and dominance. It is a role that hunters continue to lead, with the restoration of many game and non- game species, such as wood ducks, giant Canada geese and trumpeter swans, and with the billions of dollars hunters have contributed over the past century to habitat creation and restoration.
While the ethic of putting back is essential to the continued use and enjoyment of wildlife, it is also time to include our hunting heritage as something we must nurture and sustain, if we wish to continue to hunt in our increasingly urbanized world. Our social license to hunt has come under direct attack from anti- hunters, animal rights ideologues and just plain intolerant folks who don’t like the sound of a gun on Sunday morning. But hunting is equally under attack from gun control advocates, who are working diligently through political and bureaucratic channels, to limit the types of firearms and ammunition we can use for hunting. These folks spare no effort to impede the variety and quantity of firearms and ammunition available to the hunter. And in no place have these actions become more relevant to the future of hunting and firearms ownership than in Canada.
American hunters beware- if you want to turn the page now because you think all the bad news for shooters is reserved only for those with no constitutional right to keep and bear arms- then I would suggest you dig a little deeper. Sitting on your hands in the shadow of the second amendment while the world “evolves socially beyond the individual’s need to own weapons” may not be enough to keep your sporting firearms in the back closet. The world has always been a competitive place for social and political ideologies- ideas that know no borders. This doesn’t only apply to the overt struggles between nations, but to the growth and retention of ideas by society. We live in an interconnected, fast- paced world. People don’t wait for ideas to naturally take hold when cast on fertile ground. Social advocates move ideas forward with the weight of conviction, and a belief in their merits. And that is the kind of organized, real- time social and political advocacy the hunter faces, in our simple desire to own and use firearms.
Recent political events in Canada and the United States have fast- tracked opportunities for social ideologues to further inhibit the availability of firearms and ammunition to hunters. At this writing, the Democrats have taken over the reins of government in the US and a coalition of Liberals, New Democrats and Bloc Quebecois has been proposed in Canada. The Canadian coalition is pro- gun abolition and control. If they seize power, the ineffective and inefficient federal long gun registry will remain in the least, but individuals will likely lose the ability to own all semi- automatic firearms, including your cherished semi- automatic duck gun and probably many kinds of hunting rifles. The links between democrats, liberals and other left- of- centre political parties in the US and Canada are strong, as they are between political groups across the border on the right. Expect cooperation and coordination between the two countries to grow on issues of gun control, if the current Conservative government loses office in Canada.
These threats were discussed recently in a teleconference meeting of the Outdoor Network, a coalition of the major hunting, fishing, trapping and shooting sports organizations established and coordinated by Delta Waterfowl in Canada. According to Tony Bernardo of the Canadian Institute for Legislative Action and Larry Whitmore of the Canadian Shooting Sports Association, the new US administration has moved quickly to suspend the export of several types of arms and ammunition. Bernardo says that the suspension is supposed to be aimed at military arms and ammo, but the list includes several popular sporting loads, such as the .308, .223 and “sniper rifles,” which may be any heavy barreled rifle capable of being scoped.
The export ban is not good news for hunters, as it already seems the supply and variety of basic ammunition, such as twelve gauge shotgun shells is becoming more limited over the past few years in Canada. Retailers talk about the difficulty of receiving their fall shipments of ammunition. By mid- season, supplies of the more popular waterfowling loads have dried- up across the country. I have a strong hunch this new export ban is going to make it even more difficult to obtain good quality ammunition for shotguns and rifles alike next fall.
To make matters worse, the United Nations Protocol on Firearms Marking is set to take effect less than one year from now in Canada. This protocol requires each firearm to be marked with the country of import and year of import. This information must be engraved to government specifications into the receiver of the firearm, a simple- sounding task but in reality, not one easily performed by either the original manufacturers of firearms, nor their Canadian distributors. The firearms market is so small in Canada, it isn’t worth doing the marking from a business perspective. On top of that, there is no demonstrable need for the marking system, as firearms can already be traced to place of origin by other means. The Outdoor Network along with individual participant groups, firearms industry advocates and many concerned hunters and shooters campaigned hard to get a delay in implementation of the marking system. The Conservative government was supposed to set up a committee to look at ways to overcome the difficulties poised by the marking scheme to firearms manufacturers, distributors and retailers in Canada, but with barely one year left to the deadline, no committee has been struck.
But firearms issues for Canadian hunters don’t start or stop at the border. The long- disdained, billion- dollar Liberal boondoggle called the firearms registry remains alive and well. The registry is constantly being propped up by police forces receiving federal funding, gun control advocates and politicians like David Miller, Mayor of Toronto, who would rather address the symptoms of crime than their causes. However, during the recent Outdoor Network teleconference, Bernardo suggests that there is yet another threat lurking for hunters and firearms owners, behind the gun registry. The “Controlled Goods Directorate” (CGD) in the Department of Public Works and Government Services Canada was established among other things to control the export and proliferation of conventional military arms and ammunition. According to Bernardo, the CGD does not control sporting arms because that task is now performed under the Firearms Act. However, should the gun registry be removed as promised by the Conservative government, we may expect the case to be made by CGD bureaucrats to have their organization assume this gun control function nationally. Although this may not happen under a Conservative government, it could be used in the future by a new Liberal government or a coalition of left- leaning parties to replace and enhance the most stringent aspects of gun control.
Outdoor Network participants, including the largest constituencies of hunters, such as the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters, the BC Wildlife Federation, other provincial wildlife federations, shooting sports and industry groups, and groups such as the Ruffed Grouse society and others are actively engaged with the network and through their provincial and regional organizations to address these issues. Meetings are targeted to encourage the Conservatives to remain strong in defending Canada’s gun owners, and to strike a committee shortly to resolve the potential issues facing the firearms and ammunition industry under the UN Firearms Marking Protocol. Network groups will also be petitioning the new Liberal Party leader Michael Ignatieff, to meet with him and express our growing concerns with firearms issues and hunting heritage in Canada. Outdoor Network groups including Delta Waterfowl and others, will be seeking meetings with Members of Parliament in all parties, particularly those who are known hunters or shooters, to advise them about our concerns, and gain their support for our shooting and hunting heritage.
Individual waterfowl and other hunters and shooters are key to the success of the hunting and shooting sports organizations on firearms issues. It is your contact with your Member of Parliament through phone calls and letters to express your deep concern about these firearms issues that will make the difference. The Outdoor Network will be working with individual provincial, regional and national groups to develop messages that can be used by hunters and shooters to contact their Members of Parliament and register concern about firearms and ammunition issues. The following is a list of current Outdoor Network participants working on firearms issues. A number of these groups have information on their websites on what you can do to defend your privileges to own and use sporting firearms and ammunition in Canada. Please check them out, and join up today, because they are all working to secure the future of hunting and shooting for you in Canada.
Alberta Fish and Game Association
BC Wildlife Federation
BCWF Political Action Alliance
Canadian Institute for Legislative Action
Canadian Shooting Sports Association
Canadian Sporting Arms and Ammunition Association
Delta Waterfowl Foundation
Fédération Québecoise des Chasseurs et Pecheurs
Friends of Fur
Hunting for Tomorrow Foundation
Manitoba Wildlife Federation
National Wild Turkey Federation
New Brunswick Wildlife Federation
Newfoundland and Labrador Wildlife Federation
Nova Scotia Federation of Anglers and Hunters
Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters
Prince Edward Island Trappers Association
Prince Edward Island Wildlife Federation
Ruffed Grouse Society
Saskatchewan Wildlife Federation
